Greetings!There are lots of interesting items in the news this month. Ultra-Fairwood is preparing to have pods manufactured in India which will hopefully bring prices down. This is no doubt in preparation for the numerous so-called "pod taxi" solicitations popping up in India.

Talking of "numerous" brings to mind all the driverless-shuttle demos and installations. These shuttles seem to really be catching on. Personally I am surprised that communities are not waiting to first see them approved for operation without attendants and to see how cost-effective they can be. Pretty much the same thing can be said for all the studies involving unproven Hyperloop-type systems. Will they work? Will people ride them? What capacity will they have? Will they be cost-effective?

Hopefully the funding announcement for Skytran is an indication that we can soon expect another ATN system to be commercially available.

ATRA membership is an opportunity for you and your organization to contribute to a better world by leveraging advanced transit to improve mobility and accessibility. Membership works best for those that get involved and contribute.

A $560 million rapid transport system called SkyCabs has been mooted as the answer to Tauranga's increasingly congested roads.

It is not clear if this system has offline stations. If not, vehicles will have to stop at every station which dramatically reduces average speeds. Note that the guideways and columns appear disproportionately slim.

Come April, Gainesville will introduce a self-driving shuttle service that will run 10 hours a day Monday through Friday from Depot Park, located at 200 SE Depot Ave., to UF’s campus, said city spokesperson.

Ever watched 'The Jetsons' and wondered how you could get into one of those pod taxis and swoosh to your destination? This could soon be a reality in Bengaluru because the BBMP has planned to introduce the Personal Rapid Transit System (pod taxi service) near the Metro Stations and bus stations (in selected stretches).

Personal transportation solutions such as the automobile have grown immensely in popularity and are now seeing something of a decline as consumers ditch cars to live in cities, so new options like the 'P-trak' are being designed.

As shown in the picture, it felt like the sun was beaming down on me in Morgantown last week. The ASCE APM Standards Committee meeting accepted ATRA's request to modify the so-called brick-wall stop criterion to be more acceptable to ATN systems. Once approved (it now goes out to ballot by the full committee) this change will be included in the 2018 edition of the Standard due out in late 2018. It could allow some PRT systems to more than double their capacity while still meeting the Standard. Peter Muller

Going underground is at least three times as expensive as elevated. Carrying cars around on sleds perpetuates all the problems we have with cars. It may reduce congestion but it is not an efficient way to move people around. The cars will likely have single occupants for the most part. This seems like an expensive elitist solution.

﻿Councilman Paul Koretz wants to expedite Elon Musk's underground tunnel system to transport cars from the South Bay To the Valley.

This article answers some of the questions but misses the most important which is "why are we so seemingly focused on solving inter-city travel when the real problem is intra-city congestion?"

In August 2013, disappointed by the high-speed-rail system being built through the center of California, Elon Musk released a white paper called Hyperloop Alpha, describing a system of pod-cars shooting through vacuum tubes at nearly 800 mph.

San José State, which was also ranked a top performer for waste minimization and diversion, was recognized for its efforts in sustainable transportation thanks to its innovative work with solar-powered Automated Transit Network (ATN) development.

Space Coast could help develop futuristic, monorail-like mass transit— again

It's like a page from science-fiction: A techno transit company, using Jetsons-like pods and magnetic levitation, will build a test track at Kennedy Space Center and develop a mass transit system capable of whisking commuters around an elevated rail network.